TONY DUNNE,
Sir, - Today's edition (August 14th) rightfully celebrates the achievements of this year's Leaving Certificate students. Unfortunately in many pages of coverage, including an editorial and a related supplement, you fail to give even one line of coverage to the 3,000 students who got their Leaving Certificate Applied results today. Such an insensitive oversight, whether intentional or not, belittles the creditable achievements of a sizeable number of students. It also reinforces the fallacy that an academic education is somehow more intrinsically valuable than a practical one.
I'm glad you included the Samaritan's telephone number as it is unthoughtful acts like yours which may contribute to some people seeking confirmation of their worth by talking to the Samaritans. - Yours, etc.,
TONY DUNNE, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
... ... * ... * ... * ... ...
Sir, - Your Education Editor, Sean Flynn, reaches some illogical conclusions in his article on standards in the Leaving Cert (page 2, supplement, August 14th). In it he states that "the most striking feature of the Leaving Cert results this year is how similar the grades are to previous years". Given that over 50,000 students, who are not known to be significantly different from last year's class, and having completed essentially the same studies, sat essentially the same exam, it would indeed be striking if the results were significantly different from those of the previous year.
Then he proceeds to make an illogical inference by stating that "the Department of Education clearly (sic) sets a marking pattern for each paper and for the most part sticks rigidly to it". Where is the evidence for this accusation? Is he seriously suggesting that an anomalous mixture of geniuses and dunderheads presented themselves for the exam but skilful gerrymandering of the results by Department officials managed to make the results look the same as last year?
Having dug his grave, he now preceeds to bury himself with further irrational logic. He states "there is no great deviation from the general trend over five years or more... there is no way of knowing how the class of 2002 performed... it tells us little about overall standards".
I have to agree with him that "this is comforting for the Department" but for a different reason - they are clearly marking in a consistent manner students from a consistent educational system. That is not to say it can't be improved, of course!
The final stroke of irrationality occurs in his eighth paragraph where he obligingly contradicts his own flawed logic, stating "the good - if predictable - news is that the results in higher level biology are broadly similar to last year". So now he thinks that similar results are a good thing, having devoted his earlier arguments to showing they were a bad thing.
Professor Robyn Dawes, a leading psychologist in the US, defines irrational thinking as "adhering to beliefs that are inherently self-contradictory". Such beliefs are unfortunately common and his book Everyday Irrationality contains many examples not dissimilar to the one above. Perhaps some elements of critical thinking could be introduced into the Leaving Cert curriculum, e.g. basic philosophy, logic and statistics? - Yours etc.,
GEORGE REYNOLDS, Annamoe, Co. Wicklow
... ... * ... * ... * ... ...
Sir, - Before agonising too much about trends in exam results, and drop-out rates in universities, it might help to get a few things straight.
It's really very simple - we got rich and went soft. Teenagers have much more disposable income and take it as a basic human right to go out drinking three or four nights a week. And when looking at potential role models they see no obvious connection between academic hard work and subsequent wealth and success. The second level education system has been dumbing things down to accommodate such students while satisfying the expectations of their parents. At third level the universities have been just a little slower at dumbing down - hence increased drop-out rates in the first year of many degree courses. But hey, that can be fixed.
So where, might you ask, do the universities go looking for top-grade grey matter for serious academic research?
They go overseas to pluck the best they can find from poorer countries with excellent second- level educational systems. America has been doing this for years, so we are in good company. I had the privilege of teaching in an American university a year ago - and it's a glimpse of our future. A debased second and third level system for the natives, and top grade graduate schools for those poached from abroad.
However, we could be in a bit of a mess if we suddenly get poor again. - Yours, etc.,
DR. MICHAEL SCOTT, Ballybough, Dublin 3